System and Method for Indexing Automated Telephone Systems

ABSTRACT

A telephone subnet crawler is used to access automated telephone response systems and index the information, contents and structure contained therein. A database of the information, contents and structure of a plurality of automated telephone response systems is created by the telephone subnet crawler. A user interface provides callers with direct access to the information, contents and structure of the automated telephone response systems contained in the database. Where an automated telephone response system requires user input, the user interface calls the automated telephone response system and navigates to the node requiring user input, provides the user input and displays the results to the user. Where an automated telephone response system connects to an operator, the user interface calls the automated telephone response system, navigates to the node for an operator, and when an operator is detected, calls the user at a user provided callback number.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 14/691,087,having a filing date of Apr. 20, 2015 which itself is a continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 11/969,155 having a filing date of Jan. 3, 2008,now U.S. Pat. No. 9,031,214, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/883,206 having filing date of Jan. 3,2007 entitled “Indexing and Automation of Telephone or ComputerNetworks, IRV's, ACD's, and Other Software or Hardware Systems,” thedisclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety and all commonly owned.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to automated telephone responsesystems, and in particular to systems and methods for indexing andautomatically navigating an automated telephone response system.

BACKGROUND

As is well known in the art, an automated telephone response system is atelephone based communication technology that provides callers withservices based upon the callers' responses to various prompts. A productor service provider will typically publish a telephone number andconnect the telephone line to a computer system that detects voice andtouch tones from an incoming telephone call. The provider then creates aseries of messages that are accessed by the caller. The messagestypically give menu choices or information that the caller can choosefrom by either voice response or touching a number on their telephone.Such automated telephone response systems include Interactive VoiceResponse (IVR) systems, Automatic Call Distributors

(ADC), Private Branch Exchanges (PBX), and Voice Over IP (VoIP) systems,to name a few.

Typical services that can be obtained through an automated telephoneresponse system are hours of operation, account information, packagetracking or connection to a human operator for more complex services. Inthe simplest form, the caller will be greeted by a welcome message, andgiven a choice of services to choose from. In this case, the messagesare pre-recorded to provide the specified information. As an example, aregional chain store may welcome the caller to the store call center andthen give a choice such as: “For store hours, press or say 1. For a listof store locations, press or say 2.” When the caller makes a selection,the automated telephone response system then plays the appropriatemessage containing the information selected. In some instances, moreinformation may be required from the caller, than just picking anoption. For example, a larger national chain store may choose not togive one message that lists all locations, but rather give a messagethat says: “To find a store near you, press or say 2.” Selecting thisoption would then lead to a message that says: “Please enter or say your5-digit zip code.” When the caller enters their zip code, the automatedtelephone response system then plays the message giving the location ofthe nearest store.

Automated telephone response systems can also provide more complexservices and give dynamically created messages. While a credit cardcompany, for example, may have pre-recorded messages for their mailingaddress, or for local branch locations, they will also provide servicessuch as account balance information, payment due date, or the ability tomake a payment over the telephone. When a caller wishes to know theiraccount balance, the automated telephone response system may ask for theaccount number, the caller's name or other identifying information suchas a customer PIN number. The automated telephone response system thencreates a reply message based upon the balance of the identifiedaccount: a message that applies only to the caller's account. This levelof interaction requires that the automated telephone response system beintegrated with the credit card company's account management system. If,further, the caller wishes to make a payment over the telephone, theautomated telephone response system can prompt the user for an accountnumber, a payment amount and a payment date. Here, the automatedtelephone response system must also be integrated with a bankingverification system.

In many instances, automated telephone response systems are inadequateto handle all of the caller's needs. This may be because the request istoo complex to be adequately modeled as a series of menu steps, or theservice may be of an occasional or unforeseen nature. In theseinstances, the provider may have made no provisions for such requests inthe automated telephone response system. Also, the automated telephoneresponse system may be unable to make sense of the caller's responses.Examples include entering account numbers in error or that do not existon the company's account management system, or when the caller has athick accent such that speech recognition software is unable tointerpret the caller's responses. In these cases, it is common forautomated telephone response systems to route the caller to a humanoperator to handle the call. In addition, the option to speak with ahuman operator is often provided within the menu choices, as a courtesyto callers who do not wish to navigate the automated telephone responsesystem.

Businesses that employ automated telephone response systems experiencemany benefits in terms of improvements in productivity, quality ofservice and call volume. Because a caller can obtain a wide range ofstatic information (e.g., hours of operation, location, etc.) andservices (e.g., account balance, payments, etc.) from an automatedtelephone response system, the need for operators is reduced. Even whenan operator is required, the automated telephone response system can offload the tasks associated with identifying the caller and other routinematters, so operators can spend more time answering questions andsolving problems. Furthermore, because the automated telephone responsesystem can effectively and efficiently route calls based upon thecaller's needs, the operators can be more specialized in particularareas of interest, leading to higher quality assistance. Finally,because fewer calls actually require the assistance of an operator, thebusiness can handle a larger volume of calls, and can extend the hoursof operation of the call center.

One other advantage provided by the automated telephone response systemis the inherent call load leveling function provided by the operatorhold queue. Typically, when a caller requests an operator, the automatedtelephone response system places the caller on hold while it determinesif an operator is presently available. When an operator becomesavailable, the caller who has been on hold the longest time is connectedto that operator. Without this queuing function, a business has achoice: they can staff enough operators to handle the peak call volumebut then have operators who are idle during off peak times or they canstaff enough operator to handle some lower call volume and then have toturn away callers during the peak times. The operator hold queue permitsthe business to staff for the average call volume, with callers in thequeue left to experience longer hold times during peak times.

While automated telephone response systems have been a great boon to thebusinesses that employ them, they have often been a source offrustration to the callers who experience them. Complaints typicallyfocus on difficulty navigating the menus presented, particularly as itrelates to getting to the human operator, and on waiting through thequeue times. Successfully navigating an automated telephone responsesystem often requires correctly selecting from up to ten menu items. Inthe first instance, this may lead to confusion because, by the time themessage has listed the tenth option, the caller may have forgotten thecorrect number to push or say to get to their destination. Furthermore,the choices themselves may be confusing. The caller may not be surewhether to, for example, “press or say 2 for account balance” or “pressor say 3 for account status”, when what they wish to know their creditlimit. Finally, a caller may inadvertently press the wrong number ontheir telephone, leading them down the wrong path. These problems areexacerbated when the automated telephone response system lacks adequatemenu options to navigate back to the previous menu, leaving the callerno option but to hang up and try the call again.

In order to improve call center efficiency, businesses sometimes try todrive the caller to utilize the pre-recorded or dynamically producedinformation. This often takes the form of obscuring the menu selectionsnecessary to speak with a human operator. Here the automated telephoneresponse system may require excessive information from the caller, forcethe caller through several long information steps or otherwise make thecaller attempt one or several services unsuccessfully before being giventhe option to speak with the operator. This often leaves callersfrustrated and angry by the time they get to speak with the operator.Add to this a long wait in the operator hold queue (sometimes up to ahalf hour or more), and callers may simply give up in despair.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that there remains a need toimprove the caller experience with automated telephone response systemswhile maintaining the productivity gains experienced by the businessesthat employ them.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the invention are herein presented by way of example andinclude a computerized method is provided for allowing a user to accessa human operator in an automated telephone system having a plurality ofsubnets, wherein different subnets may have different designated humanoperators. The computerized method may comprise receiving a request forinformation from the user; identifying a subnet within the automatedtelephone system based on the request for information; using a telephonesubnet crawler to navigate the subnet to reach a human operatorpertinent to that subnet in the automated telephone system; andinitiating a telephone call between the user and the human operator.

Further, a computerized method for allowing a user to access informationin an automated telephone system having a plurality of nodes maycomprise receiving search terms from the user to search for informationfrom the automated telephone system; translating the search terms into adesired node in the automated telephone system; using a telephone subnetcrawler to navigate to the desired node; and offering the user an optionof fetching the requested information for the user or initiating atelephone call between the user and the desired node.

A system aspect includes a system for allowing a user to access a humanoperator in an automated telephone system having a plurality of subnets,wherein different subnets may have different designated human operators.The system may include an interface operable for requesting informationfrom a user; a search module, connected to the interface, operable toreceive the information, and to query a database for a subnet within theautomated telephone system based on the information request; a telephonesubnet crawler connected to the search module and operable to navigatethe subnet to reach a human operator pertinent to that subnet in theautomated telephone system; and a telephone module linked to thetelephone subnet crawler and operable to initiate a telephone callbetween the user and the human operator.

By way of further example, a system for allowing a user to accessinformation in an automated telephone system having a plurality of nodesmay comprise an interface operable to receive a search term or termsfrom a user to search for information from an automated telephonesystem; a search module connected to the interface and operable totranslate the search term into a desired node in the automated telephonesystem; and a telephone subnet crawler connected to the search moduleand the interface, and operable to navigate to the desired node, whereinthe interface is further adapted to offer the user an option of fetchingthe information for the user or initiating a telephone call between theuser and the desired node.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention are described by way of example withreference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the structure and contents of a typicalautomated telephone response system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustrating a computer system according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating Telephone subnet crawler/indexersoftware according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a screen capture illustrating the web graphical user interfaceaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is another example of another screen capture from the webgraphical user interface according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 6 is another example of a screen capture from the web graphicaluser interface according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating the functions embodied in FIGS. 4-6according to one embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic illustrating another embodiment of a computersystem.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specificembodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodimentsare described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the invention. It is to be understood that the variousembodiments of the invention, although different, are not necessarilymutually exclusive. For example, a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described herein in connection with one embodiment may beimplemented within other embodiments without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention. In addition, it is to be understood that thelocation or arrangement of individual elements within each disclosedembodiment may be modified without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, notto be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present inventionis defined only by the appended claims, appropriately interpreted, alongwith the full range of equivalents to which the claims are entitled. Inthe drawings, like numerals refer to the same or similar functionalitythroughout the several views.

It should also be noted that in the development of any such actualembodiment, numerous decisions specific to circumstance must be made toachieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance withsystem-related and business-related constraints, which will vary fromone implementation to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated thatsuch a development effort might be complex and time-consuming but wouldnevertheless be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in theart having the benefit of this disclosure.

The description and examples are presented solely for the purpose ofillustrating the preferred embodiments of the invention and should notbe construed as a limitation to the scope and applicability of theinvention. While the compositions of the present invention are describedherein as comprising certain materials, it should be understood that thecomposition could optionally comprise two or more chemically differentmaterials. In addition, the composition can also comprise somecomponents other than the ones already cited. In the summary of theinvention and this detailed description, each numerical value should beread once as modified by the term “about” (unless already expressly somodified), and then read again as not so modified unless otherwiseindicated in context. Also, in this detailed description, it should beunderstood that any cited numerical range listed or described as beinguseful, suitable, or the like, should be considered to include any andevery point within the range, including the end points. For example, “arange of from 1 to 10” is to be read as indicating each and everypossible number along the continuum between about 1 and about 10. Thus,if any or all specific data points within the range, or conversely nodata points within the range, are explicitly identified or referred to,it is to be understood that inventors appreciate and understand that anyand all data points within the range are to be considered to have beenspecified, and that inventors convey possession of the entire range andall points within the range.

Introduction

The present disclosure views the interactive voice response system fromthe perspective of the caller and provides a quicker, easier and moresatisfying experience without placing any additional burden on thebusinesses that employ interactive voice response systems. Using suchadvances in computer hardware and software capabilities as Voice OverInternet Protocol (VoIP), Speech to Text (STT), Text to Speech (STT) andlanguage translation, the present disclosure shows an indexed datarepository that contains the structure, content and information of anumber of interactive voice response enabled telephone subnets, and amechanism for indexing additional telephone subnets. The presentdisclosure also shows a system for granting callers access to therepository and quickly and effectively obtaining the services andinformation contained in the telephone subnets with less confusion andwaste of time. As understood herein, an automated telephone responsesystem includes Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems, Automatic CallDistributors (ADC), Private Branch Exchanges (PBX), Voice Over IP (VoIP)systems, other computer/telephone technologies or hardware or software.

FIG. 1 shows the structure and contents of a typical automated telephoneresponse system, shown generally as 100. The information contained on anautomated telephone response system 100 is accessed through one or moretelephone numbers registered to the business that employs the automatedtelephone response system 100, and navigating through the automatedtelephone response system by responding to a list of commands that guidethe caller. The responses can be in analog or digital form. Analogresponses consist of a caller pressing a dual-tone-multi-frequency(DTMF) key on a telephone keypad, or speaking the commands.

Upon dialing the registered subnet 102 (e.g. the subnet registered tothe hypothetical ACME Company), a caller is greeted by a welcome message104 and given the option to press “1” for further instructions inEnglish or press “2” for Spanish. If “2” is selected by the caller, aSpanish welcome message is given 108 along with further options (notshown). If, on the other hand, the caller chooses “1”, a main menumessage 106 is given. Here, the three options are “1” for generalinformation, “2” for account information or “3” other queries. Selecting“1” routes the caller to a pre-recorded information message 110 and theoption to return to the main menu message 106. If, from the main menumessage 106, the caller selects “2” for account information, she nexthears an account number query message 112 where the caller can enter heraccount number. Upon entering the account number, the accountinformation message 114 is dynamically created, telling the caller heraccount information, and the options, “9” to return to the main menumessage 106, or “0” for the system operator 116 are presented. Uponchoosing “0”, the caller is connected at 116 with the system operator.Finally, if the caller selects “3” for other inquiries from the mainmenu message 106, she is routed to a spoken query message 118 where thecaller is asked to speak a request. Upon speaking the request, aconfirmation menu 120 is given, repeating the spoken request and askingthe caller to confirm the request. If the request is correctlyunderstood, the caller is routed to further messages disposing of herrequest (not shown). If the request cannot be understood, the caller isrouted to the system operator 116. From this illustration, the automatedtelephone response system 100 can be seen as a tree of nodes, where eachnode contains the information and a set of options, which are thebranches to the other nodes. Some of the nodes (e.g., the Spanishwelcome message 108) are seen to grant access to other telephone subnets102 (not shown). Other nodes (e.g., the account information message 114,or the confirmation menu 120) direct the caller to a human operator.

Telephone Subnet Crawler

Indexing of automated telephone response systems 100 consists ofretrieving the information presented to callers through the automatedtelephone response system 100 in a way similar to that employed by webcrawlers. A web crawler is used to index websites on the Internet,classify the information contained therein and place the information ina form that can be retrieved through web browsing or searching. A webcrawler, or spider, is an automated script that systematically browsesthe World Wide Web creating copies of all web pages visited, andindexing the content of the web pages. A web crawler can begin with thelist of registered domain names, published in the Domain Name System(DNS), and visit each site. There is no similar registry for automatedtelephone response systems 100: a telephone number listing, such as atelephone book, does not contain information as to whether or not agiven telephone number is backed up by an automated telephone responsesystem 100. However, there are still several ways to compile a list ofthe telephone numbers that identify an automated telephone responsesystem enabled Telephone subnet, including manually entering numbers,adding references obtained from previously indexed Telephone subnets,harvesting Telephone numbers from the World Wide Web using classical webcrawling techniques, and responding to user requests (i.e., providingon-demand services). With the exception of on-demand services, whichwill be discussed more fully below, the method of obtaining thetelephone numbers associated with automated telephone response systemsis not critical.

With a classical web crawler, once a page is visited, the web crawlerwill proceed to visit each web link found on the page, working its waydown through each page until all pages in a domain are visited andindexed. There are many different crawling strategies, algorithms andpolicies that can be implemented in a web crawler to create the index.Similar strategies, algorithms and policies can be implemented in anautomated telephone response system crawler. While it is not intendedwith this disclosure to discuss the details of how all such automatedtelephone response system crawlers could be implemented to create anindex of interactive voice response system enabled automated telephoneresponse systems 100, the following example is given to illustrate thegeneral features and the types of information that can be gathered withan automated telephone response system crawler. A depth first traversalof a graph is described; with the additional capability of restartingthe navigation of the automated telephone response system 100 becausesuch systems often do not permit navigation back upward. As such, thecrawler has to be able to restart at the root to traverse unvisitedbranches. Also note that any intelligent agent can act as the automatedtelephone response system crawler described. An example of such anintelligent agent is shown in FIG. 2, where a computer system is showngenerally as 300.

The computer system 300 connects to the Internet 302 and to thetelephone network 304 through the interface layer 310. The interfacelayer 310 includes a telephone interface 312 withdual-tone-multi-frequency (DTMF) dialing and sound capability, a webgraphical user interface (GUI) 314, and service application programminginterfaces (APIs) 316. Connected to the interface layer 310 is a set ofhigh-level modules 320 that include the telephone subnet crawler/indexersoftware 322, a search/browse module 324, a statistics module 326 and atranslator module 328. Underlying the high-level modules 320 is a set oflow-level modules 330, including a Text-to-Speech/Speech-to-Text(TTS/STT) module 332, Voice-Over-Internet APIs 334, a natural languageprocessing/pattern analyzer 336, and a speech synthesizer 338. Finally,the computer system 300 has data storage 340. Users 301, in thisexample, access the computer system 300 through the Internet 302.Operators 303 associated with the automated telephone response system100 are accessed through the telephone network 304 in this example.These access points are illustrative, and not meant to limit the scopeof the present disclosure.

As illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 3, the telephone subnetcrawler/indexer software 322 fetches at 206 the telephone number of anautomated telephone response system 100 from a repository 202 (i.e., adata structure on the data storage 340) or from user input 204 (e.g.,from “on-demand” requests), and calls at 208 the telephone number on thetelephone network 304 with the telephone interface 312. When theautomated telephone response system 100 answers the call, the systemrecords at 210 the node information in the data storage 340 (as, forexample in a .wav, .mp3 or other audio file). The telephone subnetcrawler/indexer software 322 next translates the node information at 212into text using the TTS/STT module 332. At this point, other functionscan be performed on the node information, such as hashing the message tospeed later comparisons. Next, the telephone subnet crawler/indexersoftware 322 compares at 214 the current node information with theinformation from previously visited nodes and determines at 216 if thepresent node has been visited before. Methods for comparison includecomparing the hash for exact matches, or performing vector matching tofind approximate matches to account for minor differences resulting fromtelephone line noise. If, at 216, the node has never been visited beforethe telephone subnet crawler/indexer software 322 performs at 218 ananalysis of the node information and a translation into a softwarerecognized format. As such, the natural language processing/patternanalyzer module 336 identifies patterns in the textual information (as,for example, “hours of operation”, “press ‘x’”, or the list of options),and composes a list of allowed and expected inputs. Here, the softwareshould recognize that, for example, “For English, press 1” is thefunctional equivalent of “Press 1 for English”, and that both messagesmean that sending a DTMF “1” through the telephone interface 312 is avalid option to navigate the automated telephone response system 100.Additionally, the software should recognize, e.g., that “If you are aprovider, please say ‘Provider’ is to be understood to mean that theword “Provider” can be formed by the speech synthesizer 338 and sentthrough the telephone interface 312 to navigate the automated telephoneresponse system 100. In this way, a database is created that capturesthe information content and structure of the automated telephoneresponse system 100. One additional function performed at 218 in theanalysis of the node information is to create a branch map thatidentifies all possible branch options for the node and a branch visitedflag for each branch that identifies whether or not the crawler hasvisited that branch. Each flag is initially set to “unvisited”. If at220 another automated telephone response system 100 number is detected,the newly found automated telephone response system 100 number isrecorded at 222 into the repository 202 with an appropriate indicatorthat indexing of the associated automated telephone response system 100is required. This processing is often performed asynchronously; topermit complete traversal of the original automated telephone responsesystem 100 before initiating indexing of other such systems.

If either at 216 the node has been visited before, or at 220 no otherautomated telephone response system 100 number is detected, or at 222 anewly found telephone subnet 102 number is recorded into the repository202, the branch visited flags for the current node are checked at 224.If there are unvisited branches, the telephone subnet crawler/indexersoftware 322 selects the first unvisited branch at 226 and determinesthe expected input necessary to navigate to that branch. The telephonesubnet crawler/indexer software 322 next sends at 228 the inputnecessary to navigate to the first unvisited branch through thetelephone interface 312 to the automated telephone response system 100,and processing proceeds at 210, where the system records the new nodeinformation and processing for that node continues as described. If at224, all branches from the present node have been visited, the telephonesubnet indexer/crawler software 322 determines at 230 if all branches inall parent nodes have been visited, and if so, the call is terminated at232, and all further processing on the present automated telephoneresponse system 100 is halted. If, at 230, all branches in all parentnotes have not been visited, the call is terminated and the automatedtelephone response system 100 is redialed at 208, where the telephonesubnet crawler/indexer software 322 begins to traverse the subnet again,until all branches are indexed.

User Interface

Once a telephone book of automated telephone response systems 100 hasbeen built, and the content and structure indexed, a user interface canbe built to permit easy navigation of the automated telephone responsesystems 100. A user interface permits a user 301 to browse theinformation or search for the specific automated telephone responsesystem 100 associated with a business of interest to the user 301. Whilethe computer system 300 includes a web graphical user interface (GUI)314, the user interface herein disclosed is not limited to residing onthe same computer as the telephone subnet crawler/indexer software 322and date storage 340. In several embodiments of the present disclosure,the user interface is an audio interface (i.e., an interactive voiceresponse system), a web interface, and a mobile device interface, amongothers.

The simplest way for a user 301 to interact with the system is torequest for the information from a given node. This is accomplished viaexplicit querying of the database. As an example, the user 301 may entera string, such as “(800) 123-4567/1 (English)/1 (General Information)”,and expect to hear a playback of the general information message 110.This model works if the user 301 knows in advance the desired branchpath, and is comparable to entering a URL in a web browser. A morecomplex interaction involves implicit querying, using informationassociated with an automated telephone response system 100 and itsnodes. Here, keywords can be entered into a search engine, and the webGUI 314 returns the results, in a fashion akin to a web search engine.FIG. 4 shows a capture 400 from a web (GUI) 314, where the user 301 hasentered the query terms 410 “ACME office hours”, and initiated thesearch by clicking on the “Search” button 420. In this hypotheticalsituation, two results 430 were returned, one each associated with theoffice hours for “ACME Toys” and for “ACME Cars”. Here, the user 301 isleft to determine which “ACME” she is looking for. As an additionalmater, it should be noted that other relevant information can bedisplayed with the results 440, such as links to each business' website,or access to the human operator. Note, however, that in both of theabove situations, the information resides in the database, and there isno need to actually call the automated telephone response system 100 forthe user 301 to obtain the information she seeks.

As noted above, it is also possible with interactive voice responsesystems to provide input to the automated telephone response system 100and thereby obtain dynamically created information. In such situations,it is not possible to obtain the information the user 301 seeks withoutmaking a telephone call to the automated telephone response system 100.However, it is still possible for the web GUI 314 to mediate thetransaction, and obtain the information for the user 301. FIG. 5 isanother example screen capture 400 from the web (GUI) 314, where theuser 301 has entered the query term 410 “ACME”, and initiated the searchby clicking on the “Search” button 420. Here, because no specific searchterm beyond the company name has been provided, the web GUI 314 returneda clickable list of available services within the automated telephoneresponse system 100. The user 301 has selected a set of menu items 450corresponding with the nodes within the automated telephone responsesystem 100, here: “ACME Customer Service”, “English” and “Order Status”.This sequence was identified as requiring the user 301 to input into aninput field 460 to proceed farther. The user 301 thereupon enters theappropriate account information, “543342”, and clicks on the “Go” button465. The immediate result 430 is a hold message. At this point, the webGUI 314 directs the telephone interface 312 to call the automatedtelephone response system 100, navigate to the “Account Number” node,input the user's 301 account number as entered in the input field 460and record the response from the automated telephone response system100. When the automated telephone response system 100 responds, the webGUI 314 directs the TTS/STT module 332 to interpret the response, anddisplays the information as the final response 435, with packagelocation and the expected delivery time. As an alternative (not shown),the web GUI 314 could give the user 301 the option to hear theinformation as recorded (e.g., by playing a .wav, .mp3 or other audiofile). Note here that, while the computer system 300 hosts aninteraction requiring a call to the automated telephone response system100, the user 301 is freed from navigating the interactive voiceresponse system, and in particular, she does not have to wait on thetelephone for the requested information.

In another type of interaction, the user 301 may desire to speakdirectly with a human operator 303. This may be because the desiredinformation is not available on the interactive voice response system ofthe automated telephone response system 100, or because the user 301needs to carry out a transaction that is too complex to be handledwithout the human operator 303. FIG. 6 is an example of a screen capture400 from the web (GUI) 314, where the user 301 has entered the queryterm 410 “ACME”, and initiated the search by clicking on the “Search”button 420. Again, the user 301 has selected a set of menu items 450corresponding with the nodes within the automated telephone responsesystem 100. Here the user 301 has accessed “ACME Customer Service”,“English” and “Billing Questions”. This sequence resulted in the displayof a callback number input field 470. When the user 301 enters theirTelephone number, “326 643 9838”, and clicks on the “Go” button 465, theimmediate result 480 is a waiting for operator message. At this point,the web GUI 314 directs the telephone interface 312 to call theautomated telephone response system 100, navigate to the “Operator”node, and wait on hold until the operator 303 comes on the line. Here,in a simple mode, when the operator 303 comes on the line, the computersystem 300 calls the user 301 at the number provided in the callbacknumber input field 470 and conferences the user 301 in with the operator303. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the computer system300 plays an introductory message to the operator 303 such as a userspecific recording or information necessary for the call (e.g., userinformation, account number, etc.) to mitigate delays in conferencingthe user 301 and the operator 303 together. Here, again, the user 301 isfree to pursue other tasks while the computer system 300 handles thenavigation of the automated telephone response system 100, and the waittime for the operator 303.

The function of the previous examples can be generalized, as illustratedin the flowchart shown in FIG. 7. The user 301 enters the query into thequery field 250, and the web GUI 314 directs at 252 the search/browsemodule 324 to perform a reverse lookup on the search term to find thetelephone subnet 102 number that is the subject of the user's 301 query.Upon finding the relevant subnet, the web GUI 314 further directs at 254the search/browse module 324 to perform a full text search of subnettree for nodes that contain the search terms. The web GUI 314 determinesat 256 if the nodes found require input from the user 301. If the nodesfound require input from the user 301, the web GUI 314 prompts at 260the user 301 for the appropriate input in the input field 460. The webGUI 314 then directs at 262 the telephone interface 312 to call therelevant automated telephone response system 100, navigate at 264 to theselected node, and submit at 266 the user input. Upon receipt at 268 ofthe dynamic information, the web GUI 314 presents the final response 435to the user 301. If at 256 any of the nodes found do not require inputfrom the user 301, the web GUI 314 determines at 270 if a request is fora human operator 303. If not, the information found in the node isreturned at 258 to the web GUI 314 and displayed to the user 301 in theresults field 430. If at 270 the request is for a human operator 303,the web GUI 314 directs at 272 the telephone interface 312 to call therelevant automated telephone response system 100, navigate at 274 to theselected node, and wait for the operator 303 to come on the line at 276.When, at 276 the operator 303 is detected, the web GUI 314 directs at278 the telephone interface 312 to dial the user 301 at the number theuser input into the callback number input field 470, and conference theuser 301 and the operator 303 together.

In another embodiment, the computer system 300 directs the naturallanguage processing/pattern analyzer 336 to detect when an operator 303is about to come on the line, and calling the user 301 at the numberprovided in the callback number input field 470 shortly before theoperator 303 comes on the line. This minimizes the likelihood that theoperator 303, upon receiving a call instituted by the computer system,and finding no person on the line, simply hangs up the call in favor oftheir next incoming call. This functionality can be implemented by thedetection of standard greetings that immediately precede the operator's303 appearance on the line (e.g., standard boilerplate language like“this call may be monitored for quality purposes”).

In an additional embodiment, the computer system 300 includes astatistical module 326 that tracks the wait times for operators 303 oneach requested automated telephone response system 100 so as to providethe user 301 with an estimated wait time 485 until the next operator 303becomes available. Such a statistical module 326 can take into accountsuch variables as time of day, day of the week or month, or, if otherusers have requested an operator 303 from the same automated telephoneresponse system 100 recently, the wait time experienced by the otherusers 301. In another embodiment, the estimated wait time can beprovided to the user 301 before they decide to call the operator.

In one embodiment, called the “on-demand” service, when a user 301wishes to access the automated telephone response system 100 of abusiness that has not previously been indexed, hence, there is not dataavailable on the information, content or structure of the automatedtelephone response system 100, and so the web GUI 314 is unable to parsethe database to satisfy the user's 301 query. In this case, the web GUI314 directs the telephone subnet crawler/indexer 322 to crawl theautomated telephone response system 100, and index the information,content and structure so that future requests for access to thatbusiness' automated telephone response system 100 can be satisfied inthe normal manner. In addition, the web GUI 314 can instruct the user301 to return at a later time to make their query. In implementation,this amounts to the user input 204 shown in FIG. 3.

In many cases, it is standard practice for a business that employs anautomated telephone response system 100 to record the calls that gethandled by the operators 303. Ostensibly, the recordings are fortraining purposes. However, another unstated purpose is to have anaccurate record of the transaction for legal reasons. This is a luxuryafforded to the business that has typically been unavailable to thecaller because of the need to attach cumbersome equipment to telephonelines, and the necessity to inform a party that their conversations arerecorded. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the web GUI 312gives the user 301 the option to maintain a recording of the call whenshe is connected with the operator 303. This can be done by providingthe user 301 with a .wav, .mp3 or other audio file of the conversationwith the operator 303.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a software or hardwarebased text to text language translators 328 is employed to give users301 who speak foreign languages not supported by a business' automatedtelephone response system 100 greater access to the information andcontent therein. Here, the user 301 enters their preferred language intothe web GUI 314. The web GUI 314 then provides all search and queryscreens 400 to the user 301 in their preferred language. Then, when theuser 301 enters their query into the query field 410, the languagetranslator 328 translates the query into the language of the database itis created in. The search can then take place normally. When the searchis completed, the language translator 328 translates the retrievedinformation into the user's 301 preferred language.

A practical example is illustrated in FIG. 8. Here, the user 301accesses the web GUI 314 from their home Internet connection 302. Sheenters a request to speak with the operator 303 on the ACME automatedtelephone response system 100. The web GUI 314, with data from thestatistics module 326, informs the user 301 that the current wait timeto speak with an ACME operator 303 is 45 minutes. Deeming it importantenough to speak with the operator 303 as soon as possible, the user 301enters the number for her mobile telephone 305 in the callback numberinput field 470 and logs off of her home Internet connection 302. Theweb GUI 314 calls the ACME automated telephone response system 100 overa telephone line 304, navigates to the system operator node 116 andwaits until it detects the operator 303. During this time, the user 301has left her home with her mobile telephone 305. When the operator 303comes on the line, the web GUT 314 plays an introduction message to theoperator 303 while simultaneously calling the user's mobile telephone305 over a second telephone line 306 and conferences the operator 303,and the user 301 together.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the web GUI 314 presentsthe user 301 with the option to speak with more than one operator 303and 307 on separate automated telephone response systems 100 ontelephone subnets 304 and 308. A common example is found when a patientneeds to coordinate medical billing information with insurance paymentinformation. In such situations, it is convenient for the patient tospeak with representatives from both the medical service provider andthe insurance company at the same time. However, if both the medicalservice provider and the insurance company have automated telephoneresponse systems 100, the patient typically cannot get bothrepresentatives on the telephone at the same time. Here, the patient(user) 301 places a request for simultaneous contact with operators 303and 307 on the web GUI 314 and leaves her mobile telephone 305 number inthe callback number input field 470. The web GUI 314 gets the expectedwait times for each operator 303 and 307 from the statistics module 326,places the call to the one with the longest wait time (307 for thisexample), and waits for the operator 307 to come on the line 308. Theweb GUI 314 will also call the second operator 303 when the expectedwait time equals that of the first operator 307. When both operators 303and 307 arc on their respective lines 304 and 308, the web GUI calls theuser's 301 mobile telephone 305 and conferences all three lines 304, 306and 308 together.

While a single computer system 300 has been used to illustrate thefunctionality of the telephone subnet crawler 322 and user interface314, it is not necessary to the spirit of the present disclosure thatall components reside on the same computer system 300. The individualmodules and functions may be divided among several separate computers.In the extreme, a separate computer may perform each module andfunction. However, common approaches include separate computers such asa database server, a user hosting/interface computer and telephoneexchange/VoIP computers.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that a telephone subnetindexer/crawler can create a useful database that contains theinformation, content and structure of automated telephone responsesystems and that a user interface that access the database and has theability to navigate automated telephone response systems will create anenhances user experience.

The particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as theinvention may be modified and practiced in different but equivalentmanners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of theteachings herein. Furthermore, no limitations are intended to thedetails of construction or design herein shown, other than as describedin the claims below. It is therefore evident that the particularembodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified and all suchvariations are considered within the scope and spirit of the invention.In particular, every range of values (of the form, “from about A toabout B,” or, equivalently, “from approximately A to B,” or,equivalently, “from approximately A-B”) disclosed herein is to beunderstood as referring to the power set (the set of all subsets) of therespective range of values. Accordingly, the protection sought herein isas set forth in the claims below.

Although the invention has been described relative to various selectedembodiments herein presented by way of example, there are numerousvariations and modifications that will be readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art in light of the above teachings. It is therefore tobe understood that, within the scope of the claims hereto attached andsupported by this specification, the invention may be practiced otherthan as specifically described.

That which is claimed is:
 1. A computerized system for indexing atelephone subnet having a plurality of nodes, the computerized systemcomprising: an interface layer configured for network communication; ahigh-level module in communication with the interface layer, thehigh-level module comprising at least one of an indexer, a crawler, asearch/browse module, a statistics module, and a translator; a low-levelmodule in communication with and underlying the high-level module, thelow-level module comprising at least one of a text-to-speech module, aspeech-to-text module, a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) interface,a language processor, a pattern analyzer, and a speech synthesizer; anda data storage device in communication with the low-level module, thedata storage device configured to store node information.
 2. Thecomputerized system of claim 1, wherein the interface layer isconfigured to be in connection with the Internet.
 3. The computerizedsystem of claim 2, wherein the interface layer is configured to be inconnection with a telephone network.
 4. The computerized system of claim1, wherein the speech-to-text module is configured to translate nodeinformation into text.
 5. The computerized system of claim 4, furthercomprising a hashing module configured to hash the text corresponding toa node.
 6. The computerized system of claim 1, wherein the interfacelayer further comprises an application programming interface.
 7. Acomputerized method for accessing an operator in a subnet node, thecomputerized method comprising: receiving a query from a user; obtaininga callback number for the user; using a computerized subnet crawler tonavigate to the subnet node; identifying that the operator is on theline; and initiating a computerized callback to the user for connectingthe operator to the user.
 8. The computerized method of claim 7, furtherproviding user information to the operator prior to connecting theoperator to the user.
 9. The computerized method of claim 7, furthertranslating the query into text.
 10. The computerized method of claim 9,further identifying the subnet node based on the text.
 11. Thecomputerized method of claim 10, further performing a search for thetext in the nodes of the subnet.
 12. The computerized method of claim 7,further detecting when the operator is about to come on the line. 13.The computerized method of claim 12, wherein the detection is based onat least one of pattern analysis and natural language processing. 14.The computerized method of claim 13, further detecting standardgreeting.
 15. A computerized method for allowing a user to access a nodein a subnet, the computerized method comprising: receiving a searchquery from the user through a web interface; performing a lookup on thesearch query to identify a telephone subnet, the telephone subnet havinga plurality of nodes; performing a search of the subnet for nodes thatcorrespond to the search query and selecting a node; and calling thesubnet and navigating to the selected node using a subnet crawler. 16.The computerized method of claim 15, further determining if the selectednode requires input from the user.
 17. The computerized method of claim16, further prompting the user for the user input and submitting theuser input to the telephone subnet.
 18. The computerized method of claim17, further conferencing the user in with an operator of the node. 19.The computerized method of claim 15, further conferencing the user inwith an operator of the node.
 20. The computerized method of claim 15,wherein more than one node is identified, the method further comprisingnavigating to the more than one node, and conferencing the user in withoperators of the more than one node.